Finally! Now You Can Get Thousands Of The Best Android Apps On Your PC

With the exception of the Apple's App Store, PCs have yet to get
on board with the vibrant app ecosystems that power popular
smartphones and tablets.

Today it finally became possible (and easy) to get Android apps on your PC thanks to a nifty
platform from BlueStacks.

It may not sound appealing at first, about the poor selection of
apps and games on PCs, the BlueStacks approach makes perfect
sense.

Suddenly, you have access to thousands of apps that have never
been able to run on a PC before.

And it opens up the possibility of seeing Android apps on any
device with a screen, not just smartphones and tablets.

Here's how it works:

BlueStacks works in conjunction with your Android phone to push
your apps to the cloud and then download them to your PC later.
(Sorry, Windows only for now.)

The apps run within BlueStacks on your PC, and can even be scaled
up to full screen.

Even though Android apps require touch controls to work, we're
told by BlueStacks VP John Gargiulo that you can use about 85% of
them just as easily with a keyboard and mouse. The obvious
exceptions are apps that require smartphone-only functions like
accelerometer and GPS.

BlueStacks is in Alpha right now, meaning some features will be
limited until the full, paid version is ready.

The PC Is Just The Beginning

But Gargiulo tells us there are big plans ahead for bringing the
Android ecosystem to the PC. Of note, the company is in talks
with Opera to bring the Handster app store to BlueStacks.
(Opera acquired Handster last month.)

If the deal goes through, developers will be able to have their
apps available on both smartphones and PCs without having to deal
with multiple app stores.

"Just submitting to an app store will make it work. Developers
won't have to do anything else," Gargiulo says.

Handster isn't the only app store in BlueStacks' sights. Gargiulo
says they're talking with all the other big players in Android
such as SlideME.

Even farther down the road there's an opportunity to bring
Android apps to other devices, not just Macs and PCs.